Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class
Andrew Newman
Duty Section Leader
Coast Guard Station Seattle
rescue (SAR) cases. I will never forget
my first rescue case that I did by
myself as a qualified coxswain. I was
nervous and a little unsure of myself,
because being charge of a SAR mission was something that I had never
experienced before. I used what I
learned in boot camp and training.
We rescued everyone and it was
exhilarating. When we got back to
port I felt like a million dollars.
JOHN C. MARCARIO
I am not surprised with how
much I have enjoyed the Coast
Guard, but at certain times in my
career the Coast Guard has surprised me. For instance, I am surprised at where I am at today. I
knew when I joined the service that
I would be in for a fun ride and I
would have a lot of different experiences. I just didn’t know how many of them I would
have, where I would go and what I would see.
Being on Active, I was introduced to a number of different places and I saw a lot of things in different parts of the
world. I have also responded to a number of SAR cases. In
2009, while aboard Active, we rescued a pair of people
from a burning boat near Long Beach, Wash. It was named
one of the top 10 Coast Guard rescues that year.
The main lesson the service has taught me is to serve
your country and community and have respect for others.
Just being able to help out the public and seeing the
responses that I’ve gotten from people, from saving those
lives, gives me satisfaction and fulfillment in my life. If I
were to get out of the Coast Guard tomorrow, I will always
have that and I can always say to myself that I contributed.
I am definitely who I am today because of the Coast
Guard. ■
Ijoined the Coast Guard because I wanted to save lives and give back to the community. My cousin, Travis,
had been in the Coast Guard before me. He would always
send pictures and tell me stories about his travels, but I
never thought about joining. Finally, when I was 19, I
thought about joining the military but I didn’t like the
idea of going to fight in the war and being that far away
from home. So I decided to join the Coast Guard.
Since graduating from boot camp, I’ve held various
boatswain’s mate positions at Boothbay Harbor, Maine,
a small boats station; aboard the Coast Guard 210-foot
Medium-Endurance Cutter Active; Station Port
Angeles in Oregon; and now, at my current stop, Coast
Guard Station Seattle.
My time in Maine really gave me a good idea of how to
work in heavy weather conditions and interact with the
public, because we went on a number of search-and-
“Being able to help out the public and seeing the responses that I’ve gotten
from people, from saving those lives, gives me satisfaction and fulfillment in
my life. If I were to get out of the Coast Guard tomorrow, I will always have
that and I can always say to myself that I contributed.”
